It was a packed house at Johnson Hall in Gimli’s Waterfront Centre last Saturday night as the community celebrated the New Iceland Heritage Museum, a cherished institution that has preserved New Iceland and local and area heritage for 50 years.
Special guests included Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson (third from right), the Icelandic Consul in Canada, Vilhjalmur Wiium (middle) MP James Bezan (third from left) and Gimli mayor Kevin Chudd (front left), along with their partners
The museum’s annual fundraising dinner and dance included special guests such as Tammy Axelsson, who served as the NIHM’s executive director from 1995 to 2016, Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman MP James Bezan, Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson and Gimli mayor Kevin Chudd.
The museum shares stories about the arrival of the first Icelanders to the New Iceland colony in 1875, the history of Lake Winnipeg’s commercial fishery, life in the colony in the early days, and Indigenous communities helping the first settlers survive. It has a number of permanent displays and hosts travelling exhibitions. It also provides exhibit space for artists and their work, and informs and enlightens everyone who steps through its door.
NIHM executive director Julianna Roberts said the museum was pleased to receive a commemorative plaque from James Bezan, recognizing the museum for it 50 years of cultural preservation.
“The New Iceland Heritage Museum is extremely pleased to be recognized for this milestone, our 50th anniversary,” said Roberts. “I think the founders who had the vision and passion to start the museum – and who gathered together the artefacts – would be pleased to see that their vision carries on.”
Roberts said past executive director Tammy Axelsson, who served from 1995-2016, spoke about the museum as being a “community place” and shared some anecdotes about past board members, volunteers and the transition of the museum over time.
